Hurling

Hurling is the world’s fastest and most intense field game, period. It is Europe’s oldest sport (over three thousand years old) and Ireland’s national game. It originated as a way of training warriors for battle, the earliest known game being in 1272 BCE, before the battle of Moytura.

Its modern incarnation is a sporting spectacle that entrances those who see it for the first time.

At first glance it resembles some sort of suicidal arial Field Hockey with full-on contact and no padding. It is not Field Hockey and it is not Lacrosse. It includes some of the skills of other sports such as Baseball as well as many unique skills of its own. Its closest relative is Scottish Shinty and it is thought to be one of the ancestors of Ice Hockey.

Scoring is the same as in Gaelic Football; one point for putting the ball over the bar and three points for putting it in the net. What makes it different from Field Hockey and Lacrosse is that a player may catch the ball in his hand, but he doesn’t have a large leather mitt to help him. He can run for three steps, but then has to do something with the ball. If he wants to keep running then he has to bounce or balance the ball on the end of the stick, which requires great skill. He cannot take the ball in his hand more than twice while he has possession, so after the second catch he will usually pass the ball or shoot at the goal.
Passing at short range can be performed by slapping the ball with an open hand. Passing or shooting can be done by kicking the ball, or striking it with the stick in mid air. Striking or kicking the ball on the ground is also permitted.

The physical intensity of the game is hair-raising, its speed is mind-blowing, and the skill is breathtaking. To watch the game played in Ireland at the highest levels is to see a modern incarnation of a long tradition that is chronicled in the ancient Irish legends, where semi-mythical heroes prepared for battle in bloody games of hurling, and proved their worth to their kings by achieving great feats with their skills with a hurling stick.